The Lost Warrior Alternate Reality - Cooler's Offer
by ChibiChibi
Summary: This fic is a small side story to my fic TLW-AR, not written by me but by one of my readers, I've only translated into English from German. In this fic, Cooler shows his face on Earth about one year after Buu has wreaked havoc to make Vegeta an offer that he can't refuse - or can he?
1. Part I

**_The Lost Warrior_**

**_Cooler's Offer_**

**Disclaimer: Dragonball Z is property of Akira Toriyama. The plot of the Lost Warrior Saga is completely my idea, but this story was written by Infernus, who was using my story as background. Oh yeah, and the original characters (especially Jenny) belong to me, too. ;)**

**A/N: This story was written by one of my readers, Infernus, on the German fanfiction website . It a kind of background story of my story "The Lost Warrior – Alternate Reality", and tells the story of how Cooler arrives on Earth one last time, when the planet could only be protected by Jenny and Vegeta. (Timeline: Jenny's already enrolled at the Western Capital Elementary School and Mrs. Briefs is still alive. So she's about 8-9 years old.) You know, it's really cool when someone writes a fanfic for one of your fanfics. Unfortunately I've lost contact to Infernus (especially as he wanted to write another fanfic for the Lost Warrior Saga), but to honor his story I thought I could translate it into English and share it with my English readers. This is also some good exercise to translate from German to English instead the other way round. Usually, when I write in English, I don't translate but just think English.**

**Since this story is incredible long, I'll post in in several smaller parts. I'll try to finish translating the full story within the next three weeks.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**Cooler's Offer**

**Part I**

He has been on Earth for more than one year already and had watched how humanity tried to forget the horrors they had to experience under the reign of terror by the demon Buu. It was, apparently, a typical trait of this oh-so-simple species to get back on their feet after a terrible defeat like this. A stubborn will to survive, which kept them alive, was maybe the only thing they had in common with him.

He was very reluctant to admit this, but the fact that these weak insects still lived in some kind of order after all the death and destruction impressed him in some way, though not strongly. However, he was somehow feeling sympathetic to them. It could be very amusing to watch them. To research their habits and find out more about this people, which should have been destroyed so often already. The planet Earth. It was on this planet where his brother Frieza and his father King Cold had suffered their ultimate defeat and even he had failed on this world. But even though these humans surely would have had a will strong enough to do so, they were much too weak to save their planet.

It had been the Super Saiyajins, who had put him and the rest of his royal family in their places. With the warrior Son Goku leading the way. This invincible conqueror of the worst and vilest creatures, however, wasn't there anymore and would never be able to protect this world again. The Saiyajin, who had nearly killed him twice already, had been obliterated by a bigger power and had hopefully gone straight to the deepest hell. And so the planet Earth was lying before him. Almost completely helpless.

There was a smile on the lips of his true, absolutely disfigured face, hiding under a helmet, as he thought of the fact that there were only two more beings with Saiyajin blood flowing through their veins. For one there was the brat and daughter of Son Goku, who was still too weak to be considered a threat for him, and then there was Vegeta, the Prince and at this moment perhaps the strongest living warrior in the universe.

At least the strongest organic warrior.

And Cooler would soon find proof for this.

He was sitting, surrounded by his cybernetic full body armor, on his iron throne deep inside his fortress, while he was absorbing a steady flow of energy that was transferred to him by the tubes connected to his armor. This was necessary after the destruction of the Big Ghetti Star by Son Goku. After the terrible debacle on Namek Cooler had decided not to use the gathered energy to rebuild the Big Ghetti Star, but to use it to improve his own functions. This allowed this part-mechanic Ice-Jin to reach a power level Frieza could have only dreamed of. But the cost was high, which Cooler noticed, as his eyes wandered to the many human bodies, which were hanging in a complicated net of cables. This pitiful creatures were connected directly to him and his fortress and provided his deadly technology with the necessary energy, which would be invaluable for his next project.

There were about 300 of these living batteries, of which about half of them had already been part of this network since he had arrived on Earth, and this had left its marks. Cooler had, of course, instructed his few drones to look for the strongest human warriors and to bring them to him. They were nothing as individuals, but all of them put together were useful. At their arrival none of them had been older than twenty or thirty years old, but now many of them looked like old men. Haggard and dying they were waiting for the moment, when the last drop of energy had been taken from them and so Cooler had given his drones the order to look for new _supplies_.

With this problem quickly being solved, he could turn to his plan. Cooler looked at the screen, which showed the house of the Briefs family, which one of his drones was currently observing from above.

'It's time to make contact', he thought expectantly.

* * *

Vegeta had known that he would again spend many hours in the gravity room, but he hadn't even noticed how long it had really been. He first left the room in the middle of the night, and he realized that Jenny would already long be asleep, since she had to go to school the following day. The Prince would probably also just take a shower and then go to sleep as well.

Looking relaxed, but with a stern look on his face, he walked past the living room and didn't show how exhausted he was really feeling. Out of the corners of his eyes he noticed immediately that Mrs. Briefs was still sitting in front of the TV, but he just acknowledged it and walked on until he heard a well-known voice.

"I'm calling the Prince of Saiyajins." Vegeta's eyes widened with astonishment, because he knew this voice better than well. This bastard should have been dead for a long time now. He immediately went into the living room and saw that Mrs. Briefs had fallen asleep on the couch, while the voice of his old enemy was coming from the TV.

"This isn't possible", Vegeta said, as he recognized the figure in the shadows, whose eyes were glowing threateningly red. The outlines of this being were recognizable and bulkier than was the norm for this species, but the former Prince of Saiyajins was sure that this being was Cooler. He never forgot the voices of this enemies.

"Well, I think more than enough time has passed to get you in front of this primitive device", Cooler started his message and Vegeta warily crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"First I would like to explain that just one TV receives this program. I decided that the humans would only worry unnecessarily after all this trouble with the creature Buu about something that didn't concern them at all. Besides, this is a matter between you and me, the last sons of royal families. Why should we allow the riffraff to be a part of it?"

"What a windbag", the Prince growled, while Mrs. Briefs was opening her eyes behind him. She immediately recognized Vegeta, who was standing in front of the TV. This was really strange behavior for Vegeta.

"What's going on?" she asked, still a bit sleepily, but the Saiyajin motioned with his hand for her to be quiet.

"But this introduction has been long enough, Vegeta. We've got more time to talk, when we meet. And now we've come to the thing I want to talk about, my friend. I would like to invite you to a reception in your honor. We both have to discuss a very important matter, which can only be to both our advantage. I'm awaiting your visit in the 345 area in about half an hour."

Then the TV switched to another channel and one of the typical soaps was on the screen.

"What was that…?" Mrs. Briefs asked, but Vegeta had already left the living room. The woman hurried after him and saw that he was again on his way to the gravity room. "Is the world in danger again?" she asked, but the Saiyajin didn't answer. He just stepped into the room without activating the artificial gravity, which enabled Mrs. Briefs to follow him. "Who was that?" she now asked more loudly, while Vegeta was still ignoring her. He took one of the blue gis out of the closet and started to get changed. Mrs. Briefs was chewing on her lower lip and wasn't just shaking out of fear. "Vegeta…" she said quietly, as the Saiyajin walked past her, still not answering. Then it just burst out of her: "Now, listen! When Buu attacked Earth, I lost almost all the people I loved to this monster. I didn't know about it beforehand, otherwise I could have at least said goodbye. And when something like this is about to happen again, I have the right to know what's going on! I don't want to lose everything again so suddenly!"

At the end of her tirade, she was out of breath and looked completely desperate. Vegeta hadn't counted on this and spoke with a hard voice: "Cooler is an Ice-Jin. He is Frieza's brother, who destroyed Kakarotto's and my home planet. We already had to deal with Cooler twice. The first time he came with three of his best warriors to Earth, but was beaten by Kakarotto. The second time he appeared as part of a construct called the Big Ghetti Star. He tried to suck out the energy of the Nameks." Vegeta was speaking clearly, while he was pulling the white gloves on his hands. "He's been beaten by Kakarotto both times and that was on the level of a Super Saiyajin. Cooler is an annoyance, but no danger. I will meet this cyber-lizard, kill him and that's it."

The look in Vegeta's eyes told her, that the conversation was over for him.

"And what about Jenny?" Mrs. Briefs asked quietly.

"She's asleep and it's good that way. Cooler doesn't concern her." With these words the Saiyajin left the room and left the older human woman behind, who exhaled loudly. She wasn't just worried about Earth, but also about Vegeta. But it wasn't just out of concern for Vegeta, but mostly because she was worried about what would happen to Jenny, if the Prince didn't return.

Vegeta didn't fly very fast, seeing as the area wasn't that far away from the Western Capital. Underneath he saw the countless lights of the bigger cities, which weren't even asleep at night, and at this moment, he realized again how close all of this had come to being destroyed completely. After about fifteen minutes he had reached the capital of the 345 area, where he landed on the roof of a skyscraper and kept watch for Cooler.

* * *

"Get lost, you drunk idiot! There's no more booze for you here!" the bearded owner of the bar yelled after him, after he had demolished it and stumbled dizzily through the door. The cold night air was a stark contrast to the smoky heat inside this dirty drinking hole, but the dark haired Jinzoningen didn't even notice it. At this moment he was just too drunk. He didn't even realize that he was in danger of falling down with each second shaky step that he took.

'The peak of weapon technology of the Red Ribbon Army' he was once called, he and his sister. They had once been normal humans, but because of the insane Dr. Gero they had become superhuman warriors. Beings, for which everything was possible and which didn't know any limits. Even the Saiyajins had barely stood a chance against him and his sister, but then the creature Cell had appeared.

Juunanagou couldn't even say, what exactly had happened. After all, he had been the first one, who had been absorbed by Cell, so that the Jinzoningen could reach perfection. But he could remember very well, what had happened afterwards. He had been alone.

His sister had decided to become a member of the Z-Warriors and when he had seen her the last time, she had even been pregnant by that small baldhead Krillin. How could she still enjoy the lifestyle as superhuman Jinzoningen, when she was a mother with all the responsibilities?

Junnanagou had decided, back then, to leave her to this new chosen life and go his own way. Alone. But his limitless freedom and ability to act had felt painfully constricting for some time now. He was roaming the world alone, with no goal, because Juuhachigou wasn't only part of the Z-Warriors, but she had died with them. There was no more possibility to ask her to join him again, which had at least been a possibility before. But now she was dead, and he was alive – the siblings torn apart with no way back.

"If I… had just… this fatso…" Juunanagou whispered and pulled a silver hip flask out of the inside pocket of his coat. He quietly unscrewed the bottle top of his loyal companion and put it at his lips. The alcohol soothed the pain of loneliness not directly, but numbed it a big deal. And the more he drank, he longer he could enjoy the quiet.

* * *

*Flashback*

The Jinzoningen hit the wall with full force and broke clearly through, so that he remained lying on the other side of the ruin on the cracked street. Juunanagou was breathing hard, as he got back to his feet and immediately began to scan his environment for his enemy.

But at this moment, the destroyed city around him appeared absolutely peaceful. It gave the impression of a ghost town, which it was, since Buu had shortly wreaked havoc here. Slowly Juunanagou realized that it might have been a mistake to face the pink monster. But there hadn't been a challenge for him for years that had been worth it. And a Jinzoningen had to fight – that was his purpose and reason of existence.

"Stupid fleabag!" the black haired warrior said angrily and spit out a lump of blood and dirt, after which he wiped his mouth.

"Is everything okay, young man?" a rough voice asked. Juunanagou turned around immediately and saw an older man with thin hair and a cut on his forehead. He was carrying an old but apparently working shotgun – he really seemed to think that this might work against Buu.

"Who the hell are you?" Juunanagou asked.

The man scratched his chin thoughtfully with a long, thin finger and watched the Jinzoningen pensively. "My name is Seni. I had a gun shop in this town. I hid in my basement, when this thing appeared. I saw you fight." The old man scrutinized Junnanagou in a strange way. It wasn't that he thought he was a monster like Buu, but more like the old man knew, who the Jinzoningen was.

"I have already seen warriors who were that powerful more than once. I was a young recruit and was part of the fight against Piccolo Daimao." Seni raised his shotgun. "And because someone like you saved my life, I will fight at your side."

"Forget it!" the black-haired Jinzoningen replied roughly and continued to scan the ruins with practiced and quick looks for his opponent. "I will send this pig faced fatso to hell myself."

"But…!" Seni's voice started, before it died. The Jinzoningen's instincts were immediately alarmed. He turned around quickly, but the old man had disappeared and his shot gun was lying on the ground. Carefully Juunanagou looked up and recognized with terror the demon Buu, who was enjoying a bar of chocolate, while glaring at him. Slowly the chocolate bar disappeared between the lips of the monster, while a shudder was running down Juunanagou's spine. It appeared to him like a short respite, a suffering wait, until this fatso would start to attack. Juunanagou gritted his teeth and balled his fists angrily.

"You're facing a Jinzoningen and are still munching calmly on a chunk of chocolate?" The black-haired fighting machine wouldn't accept that. Juunanagou gathered his strength, disappeared with super speed and reappeared just half a step away from Buu. He pulled back to take a swing and before he could put a hole in the fat being, his wrist was caught by a strange yellow glove and his fist stopped just before it hit the impressive paunch of this devil.

Startled the Jinzoningen looked into the face of the monstrous demon, who was glaring at him with glinting eyes und distorted mouth.

He tried to free himself, but he had no chance against the strength of this monster.

"You just wait", Juunanagou threatened, put his hand in front of Buu's face and fired several energy balls at him, all of which exploded loudly. Slowly the smoke cleared and Buu was still standing there, completely unhurt, while he just kept his hold on the Jinzoningen.

Juunanagou almost couldn't believe it. "Fuck it!"

"Buu is no fatso!" the pink monster said with a childish voice, which still underlined his anger. "Buu doesn't like you, that's why Buu won't turn you to sweets!"

Juunanagou understood. Had all the people in this city disappeared because of this, without leaving any bodies? Juunanagou's eyes wandered to the lonely shot gun, which was lying around uselessly, and at the same moment he remembered the piece of chocolate Buu had eaten. Juunanagou had to admit that he was feeling a bit queasy. "You changed him into chocolate and…"

Suddenly Buu let go of the Jinzoningen and raised his hands. "Buu breaks you!"

Juunanagou wouldn't let it come that far. He immediately disappeared with neck breaking speed and turned up next to the monster, which he hit immediately with a strong kick to the head, but it had no effect. Juunanagou cursed inwardly and circled Buu, while hitting him countless times all over his body. A normal human wouldn't even be able to follow the movements, but he still stood no chance against this enemy.

Then Buu was suddenly gone and was standing with an angry glare on his face behind the Jinzoningen. Juunanagou immediately turned around, but the monster had already put its hand on his chest.

"Bye bye!" the demon said to the Jinzoningen and fired his attack, which tore Juunanagou along.

He cried out, as a burning pain spread over his whole body and his clothes were starting to disintegrate. Never before had he felt pain like this, and because of this he never noticed how he was thrown through countless abandoned and partially destroyed buildings until he finally remained lying on a bridge outside the city.

Many wounds were bleeding freely and also out of his mouth and nose a huge amount of this red liquid was flowing, while he was lying motionless on his stomach and waited. At this moment, when he couldn't move, he was waiting for death to claim him, he desired to die, but nothing happened.

First after an incredible long time Juunanagou pushed himself up and got to his feet. He was breathing hard and forced his body to obey him, while he was returning to the empty town. But there was no sign of Buu.

Moaning and groaning the exhausted Jinzoningen dropped to his knees and looked up into the sky. Had the demon thought that he was dead or didn't it even matter to him, because he was no danger to him?

"Damn it!" Juunanagou cursed, fell to his side and lost consciousness.

*End Flashback*

* * *

Juunanagou swallowed and burped loudly, leaning against a wall of a house. The alcohol had betrayed him and woken these pictures from his memories. Pictures of his short fight against Buu, which he had lost quickly. Wasn't it his fault? If he had been stronger on that day, if he had killed Buu, the monster shouldn't have been able to destroy the Z-Warriors. The Z-Warriors and Juuhachigou. But was he one of the Saiyajins? Was he one of the warriors who saved Earth again and again?

Wasn't it their task to stop this demon? But despite this responsibility they had allowed this monster to kill them and had failed. It was their fault, they had all failed and taken his sister and with this a part of himself.

Slowly the doubts made way for the anger and hatred, which at least took some of the guilt from his own shoulders, while he was looking up into the night sky. There he saw something he had never expected.

"This can't be possible", the Jinzoningen whispered, as something flew with great speed above the city. It had to be a Saiyajin!

Without noticing it, he squashed the flask in his hand as if it just consisted of tin and not massive iron, so that the alcohol squirted from the opening.

He just dropped it and rose into the sky, his face distorted by hatred.

* * *

On the roof a cool wind was blowing, which Vegeta ignored. The warrior of a proud people waited undisturbed for his next opponent and didn't allow anyone to see that there was one thing he didn't understand.

Cooler should be dead. Vegeta had been there, when Goku had pulverized the remains of the Ice-Jin that were connected to the Big Ghetti Star. How could Frieza's brother have survived? It didn't make any sense, but the Prince knew that there were many ways to escape death in this universe and he was sure that Cooler would tell him every single detail of his return with great satisfaction. Boasting was simply in these lizards' nature.

"Vegeta!" someone hissed his name and from one second to another, the Saiyajin was back in the present. He knew at once that this person couldn't be Cooler and as he turned around, he saw an unshaved man with black hair and a brown coat.

It took a second until he recognized him, which was mainly due to the scarf around the man's neck. A gust of wind let the coat blow and the Prince grimaced slightly.

This fighter had once deeply humiliated him and Vegeta never forgot something like this. "What do you want, Juunanagou?"

"I thought Buu has killed all of you," the Jinzoningen said thoughtfully with a light slur.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "That monster did kill most of us. But I have no time now to tell you any stories."

"You don't?" he growled. "So you've no time to explain to me how and why my sister had to die?"

It simply burst out of the Jinzoningen, whose words echoed in the streets below.

A desperate smile appeared on Juunanagou's lips. "You're right, you have to time left for this, Vegeta!" The name of the Saiyajin was spoken with utmost loathing.

Then he disappeared and the Prince just barely avoided being kicked directly in the face. But what looked like Vegeta just having dodged the attack, had in reality been totally different, because the attack had been so imprecise that it had missed him from the very beginning.

The strong smell of alcohol reached Vegeta's nose and he realized quickly, why Juunanagou had slacked off so much.

"This is ridiculous!" the Prince said with a hard voice. "If you really want to fight, wait until you're sober again. It doesn't make any sense, which you should see yourself."

The Jinzoningen laughed and punched with his right hand, but the Saiyajin could evade the attack again.

"I'm deeply sorry that I'm not presentable enough to attend upon the great Prince of a destroyed kingdom. But the last years have sucked like hell!"

Vegeta looked past the Jinzoningen. "You're in my way, Juunanagou. Get lost!"

The black-haired man couldn't believe it. "Look at me, when you're talking to me, you fucking…" Suddenly the Jinzoningen was hit by a strong attack in his side. He flew through the air and crashed into the other side of the roof.

Vegeta crossed his arms and looked at the being that landed in front of him. It was almost a perfect copy of Cooler, just that the skin was made of iron and metal and the optical sensors in the android's eyes were glowing red.

The Coolerdroid's tail whipped back and forth, while it was wearing some kind of soft and at the same time cruel smile on his face, which seemed to taunt him. It was one of the character traits of the Ice-Jins which this robot portrayed perfectly. It downright disgusted Vegeta.

"I thought I could help you a bit, when I keep this stinking bug away from you. After all, I had thought that we would talk alone, face to face, among princes."

"I wonder, then, why you only send an automatic mirror image of your own sad self and don't move your sorry ass to meet me yourself."

Juunanagou climbed slowly back to his feet and noticed the new arrival. "Who's the tin can?"

The Coolerdroid turned to Juunanagou and his right eye lit up. "Interesting. I hadn't thought that there would be such a moderately well-built cybernetic organism on this backwater planet. A world full of surprises."

Vegeta took a step towards the android. "Forget him. We're not here because of him, Cooler!" The Saiyajin looked at the Jinzoningen. „Leave! When you really want to fight, we'll do it another time!"

Juunanagou just wanted to answer, as the android cut in. "But why? I think our friend could also play a part in our meeting."

"I don't like your tone, you weird freak," Juunanagou said aggressively and rushed at the android. But before he could attack, the Coolerdroid had raised his hand and pointed with his index finger, at which point some energy was glowing, at the forehead of the black-haired Jinzoningen.

Juunanagou stopped dead in his tracks and barely dared to breathe, while the android was looking deeply into his eyes. "You've reached a crossroads. You can throw your meaningless life away or your existence can get a new meaning with my help."

"He's got nothing to do with this, so keep him out of it!" Vegeta growled.

The Coolerdroid turned his head and smiled at the Saiyajin. "There's no need to be jealous, Prince Vegeta. My interest in you hasn't changed at all, despite my meeting this interesting individual." He turned to the Jinzoningen. "What's your name?"

The Jinzoningen stared fascinated at the glowing fingertip of the android. "My name is Juunanagou."

"Remarkable name. I've spent some time for my studies on this planet, so I know that Juunanagou is no normal name. You're apparently a member of a military task force. Are there more of your kind?"

The Jinzoningen didn't seem capable of answering at once, so Vegeta said, "Not anymore." The Prince raised his arm so that the palm of his hand was directly in front of the android's face. "Get to the point, or I won't let a piece of you intact."

The Coolerdroid lowered his hand and turned directly and unrestrained to the Saiyajin. "A brave threat, considering the fact that there's no problem for me to make more copies of myself."

The android bowed mockingly in front of Vegeta and then rose into the air.

"I propose that both of you follow me."

With these words the Coolerdroid flew away and before Vegeta could tell the Jinzoningen to get out of here, Juunanagou followed him.

The Saiyajin growled an angry curse and rose into the air as well.

* * *

**Tbc in part II**


	2. Part II

**Part II**

Cooler was hidden deep in the mechanical innards of his secret base, surrounded by the semi-darkness of the complex and was connected to his army of androids by some kind of mental network, so that he could control them in absolute real-time. He was seeing, what they were seeing, he was saying, what they were saying. An inseparable connection to the perhaps most reliable servants, the Ice-jin had ever had at his disposal.

There was, after all, no one he could rely on better than himself. But unfortunately the range of the connection was limited and so no Coolerdroid could conquer a planet, when Cooler wasn't on the same planet. He needed someone new in his rank and this person was now on his way to him.

A quiet laugh came from Cooler, which sounded a bit mechanical and like a computer, while his eyes were glowing in a dark red, and he was sitting on his throne, to which he was connected by cables.

Cooler knew that it would take some time until his guests arrived and so he decided to indulge in a special enjoyment that this absolute fusion with the Ghetti-technology made possible.

Even though he didn't leave the room, Cooler transferred his mind into a virtual environment, which he produced from his memories. Here he appeared again as the slim being with purple skin and had a proud and almost blissful expression on his face, as he found himself in a wide hall.

It was an architectural masterpiece and stood in exactly the right light, as the setting sun was shining through the glass roof and lit the hall with a reddish light. The pillars in the corners consisted of marble statues, presenting different Ice-jin, all of them ancient and long dead imperators and kings. They were all ancestors of Cooler, who had insisted on purpose that he wouldn't have to see a statue of his father King Cold.

With his feelings, Cooler had already separated himself early from his family, since Frieza wasn't to be scoffed at as rival, and even Cold had regarded his youngest son as his favorite. Cooler was of course still hurting by their deaths, but looked at it objectively, there were now two dangerous competitors less and he had been able to incorporate their kingdoms into his with almost no resistance.

But Cooler couldn't say, if his own kingdom has fallen during his absence, or if it was still resisting and waiting for his return.

This was just an illusion, which helped to ease his homesickness and gave him hope to be a galactical regent again soon. He smiled. When it happened, he would conquer a new kingdom with his future general. This wouldn't really be a problem with this support.

"How is it possible that you manage to invade His Majesty Cooler's private channel of communication?" the Ice-jin heard a familiar voice and transferred his mind automatically back into reality, where he found himself in the relative darkness of his hidden base.

In front of him in the wall a bigger screen was activated, which showed the picture of a soldier, who was wearing Cooler's insignia on the breast of his armored gi. His skin was light blue, his ears pointed and his hair was a pale blond. He was also wearing a blood-red scouter.

Cooler hadn't expected this, but he had managed to contact the main planet of his kingdom. It was comforting, somehow, that some of his loyal troops were still stationed there.

"Commander Spicy!" Cooler said to this warrior, who was the brother of a soldier that had accompanied him on his first journey to Earth.

"Who's speaking?" the soldier asked, but then it seemed as if he recognized Cooler's voice. The Ice-jin noticed, how the Commander seemed to gasp for air. "That's not… Master Cooler?"

"You don't understand as quickly as I wished, Commander," Cooler answered and put some subtle brutality into his voice. He knew instinctively, how to scare his servants terribly. This was actually something an Ice-jin learned early and you shouldn't forget that he even taught this to his little brother Frieza. Cooler was a master of this art.

"Forgive me!" Spicy whimpered subserviently. He left a very inexperienced impression. Apparently the Commander hadn't needed to grovel in front of someone in a while. That meant that he had taken control over Cooler's kingdom.

"We've feared that you were dead and wouldn't return. We had hoped, of course…"

"That's enough!" Cooler interrupted the soldier. „I certainly won't lose my life on a planet like Earth. That would be a shame for a being like me. But I won't deny that I was prevented from looking after my duties as legitimate ruler for years. That's why I don't know everything about the current situation. I would be grateful for a report, Commander."

Spicy took a deep breath. "The state of affairs is… worrying."

"How so?" Cooler wanted to know and realized that his Commander had problems to answer his question absolutely truthfully.

"I've really tried everything in my power, great Master Cooler. But we couldn't do much against so many enemies. And they only become more."

"And this means exactly?" Cooler's patience slowly began to wane. Had he been standing in front of this soldier, he would have long vaporized him because of his shirking answers.

"After the news had spread that you had disappeared, other Lords of the Ice-jins have joined forced and invaded your sectors with their armies. They conquer world after world and keep pushing our own armies back. The losses are truly terrible."

Anger rose in Cooler. There hadn't been a direct war between the Lords for a long time. While they had tried, of course, to outmaneuver each other by cunning intrigues, this had been all. Everything else disagreed with the standards of his race.

"Who of them dares to challenge me?"

Spicy answered quickly. "Lady Frostina and the Great Imperator Colder formed an alliance. They spread the news that you have long died. Several worlds of your kingdom have started to rebel because of this. We are confronted with enemies on too many fronts."

Cooler was thinking. Colder and Frostina were no members of his family, but still very powerful representatives of the Ice-jin Lords. They also possessed a power level that was not to be underestimated, which was still enough to let planets disappear forever, but nothing compared to Cooler's power.

Cooler laughed out loudly. "These two fools will regret it. Their expensive wines will get stuck in their throats, when they realize that they have celebrated my death a bit too early. I will send Colder into an eternal exile. Somewhere in the intergalactic emptiness, and Lady Frostina will beg me to spare her life. She will surely make a great effort to convince me not to kill her."

Some hope began to glow in the Commander's eyes. "You will return? You cannot imagine how glad I am to hear that! When can your kingdom expect you?"

"It won't be long," Cooler assured him. "I will only recruit a new General for my armies and then leave immediately. Commander Spicy, I want you to send a message to all the Lords. They should know that I'm very incensed about Frostina and Colder's direct attacks on my systems and how disappointed I am that the other Lords just allowed their aggressive actions. Tell those cowards that I will destroy them on my return and take over their territories as fair compensation. Additionally, I expect that the other Lords regard me as a higher ruler and pledge their allegiance to me."

Spicy's eyes widened. "You want me to relay this message? No being has ever made a demand on the Lords of the Ice-jins. They will believe that I'm insane and exact revenge on me for this insolence."

"They won't dare, because these demands will give them food for their thoughts. They will realize that no simple Commander would dare to challenge all the Ice-jins. They will know that it can only mean that I'm truly back. It will buy some time. So I'll expect you to follow my orders word for word, Commander Spicy."

The soldier bowed and Cooler cut the connection. He would quickly rise to the most powerful ruler of the galaxy and he would manage this without a big effort. Frieza and King Cold were surely green with envy, wherever they were.

"My guests have almost arrived as well. Perfect."

* * *

Juunanagou, Vegeta and the Coolerdroid reached a wide desert after a longer flight and the android was the first to land. The Jinzoningen and the Prince did the same and all three of them were standing on an absolutely empty plain.

The night in this desert was very cold, but at this moment this didn't seem to bother any of the three.

"We've arrived," the Coolerdroid said and solemnly spread his arms.

"And what's this place supposed to be?" Juunanagou asked, as he looked around skeptically. "The only things I see are sand and rocks."

"You apparently don't possess the best visual sensors," the android mocked him, who had seemingly made it a habit to compare his technology with Juunanagou's.

"Oh, you're saying that if I had better sensors, I could see even better nothing?" the black-haired Jinzoningen countered, but then the android motioned with his hand and suddenly an enormous building with a strange architecture appeared out of nowhere.

Juunanagou barely managed to close his mouth again, as he saw this huge fortress, now standing there, where once the empty desert had reached the horizon.

"What the hell…?"

"Camouflage technology", Vegeta interrupted the Jinzoningen, who didn't appear to be very surprised. "So all this time Cooler has hidden between grains of sand and stones. Fucking coward."

The android came to his side. "But Prince Vegeta, it has nothing to do with cowardice to wait and see. That's the difference between a barbarian and a King, my dear friend."

Vegeta grimaced slightly, but didn't react to this insult. "The real Cooler, or what's left of his biological body, is in this box?"

"Exactly," the android confirmed, motioned again with his hand, which opened a big door that led directly inside. "And he's waiting."

Vegeta didn't say anything, but walked towards the door with the android following him. Juunanagou walked behind them with some distance and behind him the doors closed again. Inside was a brightly lit hallway, which led to another door. They also passed this door and then appeared to be outside again.

The sky was blue and the ground reminded them of the desert outside, even the rocks, big or small, looked like the ones outside.

"A holography?" Vegeta asked. „What's this supposed to be?"

"This is some kind of arena, which appearance can be adapted. It doesn't matter if you want it to be a snowy landscape or an erupting volcano. In addition to that the whole building is insulated, which means that no auras can be recorded outside. Be it with a scouter or in a mental way. We're completely undisturbed in this place." The android passed Vegeta and remained standing in front of him. "We have a lot to talk about."

But they didn't get around to that talk. Suddenly an arm shot forward and cut through the back of the android until the hand emerged from the chest of the Coolerdroid. "What…. are…?" its voice asked distorted and filled with malfunctions, as he noticed that Vegeta, whose usually black hair was now blond and who was surrounded by golden glowing energy, had smashed right through him. He had transformed into a Super Saiyajin and finally pulled his arm out of the Coolerdroid before he destroyed it with a ki-blast. This explosion only left a few remains of the android.

"What are you doing?" Juunanagou asked, but Vegeta didn't pay him any heed, as he raised his voice.

"I know that you can hear me, Cooler! I'm not really interested in why you want me here, so I don't give a shit, what you cybernetic shitface want to try with this. But you should know that I certainly won't negotiate with one of your ugly robots. So when you really want something from me, be a man and come yourself and don't sent your toys! If not, I will take this fortress apart until I've found you. You can choose freely how you want it to end. Do you want to hide or face me like a warrior? It's completely up to you!"

Loud laughter seemed to come from everywhere and echoed in the hall, while a few round holes in the ground were opened and four new Coolerdroids appeared. The openings closed again so that the androids could land. Vegeta was now surrounded. Each of them was standing with a bit of distance in front of him, behind him, one on the left side and one of the right side.

"What a waste of time!" Vegeta growled.

"Vegeta, you shouldn't regard this with such a general dismissal. You are offered a great chance," all four of them were saying at the same time, while the Super Saiyajin got into a fighting stance. "You could finally leave this pathetic planet again and do what a warrior of your people can do best. I offer you a place at the forefront of an enormous invincible army. My army."

"You want to recruit me?" the Saiyajin asked with more than a bit of disbelief.

…

Juunanagou was standing on the sidelines and felt a bit forgotten and unheeded. It was because of this that he had first decided to listen to find out what this Cooler wanted to talk with Vegeta about. But he hadn't expected that. So this Cooler was looking for soldiers.

The Jinzoningen smiled. Maybe this was his chance to do again what he really could to, to be what he was made to be.

"Well, count me in!" he said loudly but none of the four androids paid him any heed. He gritted his teeth. "Hey, the other robot said that there was also a place for me. I accept!"

"I apologize!" he heard someone behind him say and saw a fifth Coolerdroid, as he turned around. The android pulled his arm back and rammed his fist deeply into Juunanagou's stomach, as he said with a very polite tone in his voice. "There's got to be a misunderstanding, because this offer is just for Vegeta."

Juunanagou felt as if he had been hit by a steam hammer, as he looked up to the android, coughing.

The Jinzoningen groaned quietly, as he felt that some big nausea was spreading within him. Suddenly a torrent of vomit shot from his mouth and sprayed the ground and the Coolerdroid, who didn't appear to be bothered by this. "You are a simple machine on an absolutely low technical level and seemingly weaker than a simple android. How could I offer someone like you a job as General in my army? This wouldn't make much sense, I'm sure you understand that," the Coolerdroid explained friendly, while the whole world was spinning in front of Juunanagou's eyes. The alcohol and this strong hit had been too much for him.

"In addition to that, you look like a shabby tramp and act like a useless drunkard. These attributes are of course unacceptable for the politics on an interplanetary level."

Slowly the android pulled his fist back and Juunanagou lost his last support, so he fell to his knees and eventually crawled on all fours – he just barely noticed that his hand now stuck in his own vomit.

He breathed heavily and felt that he was about to throw up again.

"But this doesn't mean, of course, that you're absolutely useless for me," he heard the Coolerdroid say. Juunanagou noticed some movement on his said and then he was kicked in the ribs, which made him flow far and hit a massive boulder, which, even though it was only supposed to be a holography, felt very real.

…

Out of the corners of his eyes Vegeta noticed that Juunanagou was attacked by an android, but decided that this was the Jinzoningen's problem. He had told him often enough that he should get lost and now he had to live with the consequences.

"Well, what do you say?" one of the Coolerdroids asked and Vegeta concentrated again fully on the four androids.

He saved the breath to answer, spread his arms to his sides and fired two attacks, so that the droids on his right and left side exploded.

The Coolerdroid in front of him started to attack now and had reached Vegeta quickly. Cooler's likeness pulled back for a deadly attack, but shortly before he was hit, Vegeta disappeared and was now floating above the android.

"I've told you that I won't talk with you trash cans." With these words he also pulverized the third android, landed again on his feet and turned quickly halfway around, while he was putting his slightly golden glowing fist through the fourth android, which he finished with a ki-blast. "I hope this made my point clear."

Suddenly all around the arena holes were opened, through which more Coolerdroids appeared, who flew directly at Vegeta.

The Super Saiyajin growled grumpily. "Apparently not." He gathered some energy and shot towards this army.

…

Juunanagou was lying between the destroyed rocks on the ground and looked up into the holographic sky, across which more androids were flying. "I guess…" he started. "That this is it… soon." The Jinzoningen had no idea, what this Cooler needed him for, but it apparently wasn't necessary to let him live for this.

An iron hand grabbed his scarf and pulled him back to his feet. Juunanagou recognized the Coolerdroid, who had just hit him. The droid started to wipe away the vomit on Juunanagou's clothes, while he was speaking. "A lot of energy is needed to keep this complex and the androids functional and you can consider yourself lucky to be a part of this with your energy."

"You want me to work here as a fucking battery?" Juunanagou asked weakly and the Coolerdroid nodded.

"That's how, in the end, everybody serves his purpose. It's still better than walking around, dead drunk. Not so senseless. And to make sure that you're not able to do any damage…"

The Coolerdroid didn't finish his sentence and socked Juunanagou with the side of his hand into his face, so that the Jinzoningen slid across the ground on his back.

…

It was becoming a real battle, during which Vegeta killed an opponent with almost every single hit, but the attacks didn't seem to want to end. His hits and kicks were quick and he raged with those among the androids, but there were always more. Vegeta's frustration slowly started to grow.

He blocked a punch from the side, whose initiator whispered in his ear: "I know that this lifestyle doesn't meet the desires of a Saiyajin. You're trapped here."

Vegeta caught the first of the droid with his own, squashed them to pieces and decapitated the Coolerdroid with one hit. 'Shut your face,' the Super Saiyajin thought angrily.

"I've been watching you. You always train hard, but why? What is here that you can fight against?" he heard a Coolerdroid say behind him and forcefully pulled his elbow back, where he hit another droid, who was thrown away and collided with another Coolerdroid. Vegeta fired a ki-blast after him, which destroyed them in a big explosion. Debris was literally raining down on him.

"I will give you a whole universe of opponents," the next Coolerdroid said, who was quickly torn apart by an energy attack.

Vegeta growled angrily. "Shut up."

"So much power wasted here. Don't act as if you're satisfied with this life," another said, who was hit into the face by the Saiyajin, so that that robot's skull broke into pieces.

"How big is the value of a warrior, who can't fight?" yet another one asked, but this time Vegeta didn't have the chance to react, because all the robots started to attack at the same time. The Super Saiyajin downright disappeared in this crowd of enemies, whose hits and kicks were raining down on him.

The Prince held his arms protectively in front of his face, but still bore the brunt of the attacks. He gritted his teeth, however.

"I will free you from this brat, who you have to play babysitter for."

Vegeta's eyes widened, as he heard this. 'Jenny!' shot through his head, as it suddenly burst out of him and a wave of the truest energy broke away from him. There was a loud bang and the Coolerdroids were torn away by the shockwave and broke apart, while the golden aura around Vegeta burned brighter than ever before.

The rage was burning on his face.

"Cooler!" he yelled furiously. „Come out of your hiding place!" Vegeta wasn't really aware that it was mainly because of Cooler's threat for Jenny's life that he could barely control himself at the moment. "Cooler!" he yelled again, and noticed laughter coming from the ground. A half-destroyed android skull was lying there, looking up at Vegeta and laughing mockingly. "I'm sick of your ridiculous games!" he roared and destroyed the skull with a pointed ki-blast.

Then a big hatch was opened in this ground and Vegeta prepared himself. No matter what was going to come out of there, it wouldn't be a simple Coolerdroid.

…

Juunanagou got only slowly back to his feet and wiped some blood from his upper lip. "Do you really think, I will allow you to exploit me, just so that you can leave the light on during the night, asshole?"

The Coolerdroid appeared in front of him with crossed arms. "Now don't try telling yourself that you'll be of use for more."

The robot turned and hit Juunanagou hard with its tail on his cheek, which made the Jinzoningen waver a step to the side.

But the Coolerdroid didn't stop at that. He kept attacking the black-haired man, who had, however, put all his weight on his left leg and performed a kick with the other one, which was supposed to hit the droid's face. Still, the Coolerdroid was faster, caught the foot with his hand and held onto it.

"If you were sober, I shouldn't have been able to block this attack this easily."

The Coolerdroid finally raised his own arm, pointed with his index finger at Juunanagou and fired a small ki-ball at him. The Jinzoningen was hit and flung away by the explosion. He landed on his back several yards away.

…

Vegeta snarled, as he saw, what came out of the opening, which was closing again. It rose into the air and remained floating there.

"I seem to remember you differently, Cooler. In the Big Ghetti-Star you were only a simple head that was hanging on a few cables. Or is this thing again only one of your tin soldiers?"

Vegeta regarded the appearance of this being, which was by far bigger and wider than a simple Coolerdroid. It actually looked like a walking armor with the tail that was typical for the Ice-jins and red eyes set deeply in its skull.

Huge spikes protruded from the wide shoulders and from the elbows smaller spikes jutted out. Vegeta was sure that Cooler would use them in a fight.

"The head was just a simple fake. At that time I wasn't able to face a Super Saiyajin."

The seemingly true Cooler crossed his arms and chuckled.

"And I believe that you are able to face me this time?" Vegeta asked warily, as they both landed at the same time and both of them again had firm ground under their feet. They were standing about twenty-five yards apart, but their eyes had long met.

"I'm stronger than a Super Saiyajin. What Son Goku left of my body from our first meeting is sealed in this armor and I'm connected to it. This is the perfected Ghetti-technology with an almost infinite supply of energy. I am the strongest warrior of the universe."

"I guess there is no one of your kind, who knows what humility means," the Prince hissed.

Metacooler kept a straight face. "So, what do you say to my offer? How would you like to see strange stars and planets? There are so many worlds that are more beautiful than this pathetic blue ball. You've been here for years. Doesn't this dullness bore you?"

"Not as much as your ramblings," Vegeta roared, jumped up into the air and gathered some energy in his fist, while he was flying directly at Metacooler. As he reached him, the Super Saiyajin unleashed his fist, but his attack only hit emptiness and his opponent had disappeared. Vegeta came to the ground again and looked around, frustrated. He couldn't locate Cooler. These machines had no aura that he could feel.

"Coward."

Suddenly Vegeta noticed something in his back and jumped aside out of instinct. This probably saved his life, because where he had just been standing, the point of Metacooler's tail had left a crater in the ground.

The Super Saiyajin kept his distance for now, because this artificial tail of the lizard increased the range of his opponent in hand-to-hand combat immensely.

"How long has it been since your last true fight, Prince of Saiyajins? Your blood has to boil due to pugnacity. It's something all members of your race are born with. You have to destroy, you have to kill. Do you think, you can quench the thirst for that on this planet? I can offer you a life, in which you can face new opponents every day. The universe is full of beings you can compete against. I know that this is, what you want."

"What I want?" Vegeta asked. „I can tell you, what I want. At this moment I only want to beat your disgusting arrogance out of you. Cooler, you can believe me that you will regret coming to this planet one more time. You still stand there and curse yourself, because you thought that Earth was helpless. You will curse yourself, because you have, as it is your nature, completely and exorbitantly overestimated your abilities."

Cooler, however, didn't give up. "Just imagine, thousands of worlds that know your name…"

Vegeta didn't allow Metacooler to finish his sentence and attacked again. "It's enough, when I know my name!" he yelled, as he flew at the Ice-jin. The Super Saiyajin pulled his fist back for another attack, and this time it actually seemed as if Cooler didn't want to dodge.

But Vegeta's fist didn't reach its goal, as it was slowed down a few inches before it. Metacooler had pulled his knee up and buried it deep in the Saiyajin's stomach.

Vegeta's eyes and mouth stood open for a moment, as a terrible wave of pain ripped through his body and he was eventually flung a few yards away.

"Bastard!" Vegeta cursed with a weak voice, but came back to his feet and managed stay on his feet while he was sliding backwards. He hadn't expected that Cooler was so strong in this form. "Die!" was his battle cry, as he gathered a bit more energy and fired it in form of his Galick Gun at his opponent.

There was a heavy explosion, but Metacooler had escaped with incredible speed and was standing next to the smoking crater, unhurt. Super Saiyajin Vegeta would never allow to leave it at that. He immediately fired another Galick Gun, which his enemy avoided just as easily and so he fired one after another. But again and again Metacooler managed to dodge the beams and explosions. It looked as if the Ice-jin teleported back and forth, that's how quick his evasive moves were, which actually only consisted of one or two yards.

With each useless Galick Gun Vegeta's frustration grew and slowly his attacks became more and more uncoordinated so that Metacooler was able to start an attack himself.

Unbelievably fast he broke through the pattern of attacks and appeared next to Vegeta, who managed to react too late. Vegeta was hit hard by Metacooler's fist at his temple, so that he went flying and hit the ground hard.

…

Juunanagou needed a lot of strength, but he could force himself to get to his feet and into some kind of fighting stance, even though the world around him was spinning and his body was begging him to let go. He wouldn't be able to bear this much longer.

"You look hurt. Were my words too hard for you?" the android asked amused and with played concern. "You're actually not that pathetic. You are an interesting beginning of evolution. Some more decades of R&amp;D and the Jinzoningen that follow after you could really be impressive."

"That's what you think, you alien-robot-mishmash?" Juunanagou asked, breathing heavily and put his hands on his knees to support himself. "Is that somehow a bad habit of you? You don't need to be polite to people before you kill them. And just so you know. The man who made me into this, what you call an interesting beginning of evolution, is dead. There will be no more Jinzoningen, because I killed my creator." Juunanagou smiled weakly. "So I'm the strongest Jinzoningen, because I'm the last of my kind. I've got to disappoint you."

"How regretful," the Coolerdroid started and even seemed to mean it. "I could have used a genius like this. It's really a pity, but I can't change it. It's tragic that your series will have its last highlight with you."

Juunanagou no longer put up with this. He raised his arm and fired an enormous ki-blast, which caused a huge explosion. "You shouldn't underestimate me!" he cried. "There was one a time, when we wiped the floor with the Saiyajins."

The smoke slowly cleared, but nothing could be seen except for a crater. No pieces of metal and nothing that could be part of a destroyed Coolerdroid.

"Where…?"

At that moment the android appeared next to the Jinzongen and sent a weak read ki-ball at him. Juunanagou was pushed back a yard and fired another attack, which the Coolerdroid just took head on.

"Was that everything?" he asked and shot another ki-ball. Battered, Juunanagou took a step backwards.

"Bite me…" the Coolerdroid hissed and fired a stronger volley of ki-attacks. The Coolerdroid was pushed almost three steps back by this attack.

The black-haired Jinzoningen, however, couldn't celebrate this triumph for long, as he was hit by another weak beam, which left him reeling.

He looked up and wanted to react, as the next explosion hit him and others quickly followed. Countless blasts rained down on the Jinzoningen, all coming from the Coolerdroid, until Juunanagou finally collapsed, exhausted and wounded, and remained lying on his back.

…

Vegeta quickly came back to his feet after this attack and he felt as if his head would burst any minute now. Metacooler's hit had really been effective. While he was glaring at his opponent, the Super Saiyajin noticed something running down his temple, along his check to a drop at his chin.

Without averting his gaze, Vegeta wiped the liquid away and saw out of the corners of his eyes his red tinged glove. There had to be a badly bleeding cut.

"We can stop with this absurdity any time," Metacooler explained. "Even though you Saiyajins have become powerful, your power has its limits. You just cannot win, Vegeta."

The proud Prince understood his enemy's appeal, but he didn't consider once to accept the offer.

Vegeta answered with a hard but controlled voice. "You don't seem to understand, what this means for me. I am just getting a really big chance."

"It is good that you begin to appreciate my offer," Cooler interrupted him, but Vegeta wasn't thrown.

"It was your brother, who enslaved my people, only to annihilate it in the end, and it was your brother, who I couldn't defeat. He humiliated me and my whole race and because of Kakarotto I never had the opportunity to get my revenge. I wasn't strong enough. And now you come to Earth and I get the chance to make up for it. I couldn't revenge my people, but I can kill you, Cooler."

"What are you talking about?" the Ice-jin asked blankly. "What is your point, when you put the hatred for my brother on my shoulders? I didn't destroy Vegeta-sei and I wouldn't have done it, if I had been in his place. Frieza had acted too hastily, because he had been afraid of the legendary warrior. This fool never got the idea to use the power of a being like this. You know the galaxy. There are almost so many tyrants and despots that there had been enough for every planet and Frieza had had the chance to become the King of all Kings. But he sacrificed them and almost all the usefulness the people of the Saiyajins had. Back then I had only thought your race to be a species of barbarians, like there are on almost half of the inhabited planets. But I assure you, I would have stopped Frieza, if I had known, how much potential and power would be destroyed with Vegeta-sei."

Vegeta laughed out loudly but not sincerely. "So, you want to soothe my anger? You tell me, how bad you feel about not being able to enslave my people anymore? That you can't put them in your service any longer? You're not much better than your brother. You ugly lizards believe that the galaxy is only waiting for you to split it among yourselves and that its inhabitants will knee before you. Actually, I don't see a difference between you and Frieza. So why shouldn't I hold you accountable for the millions of killed Saiyajins?"

"Don't you think, it would be more appropriate to preserve the memories of your species? Only you and this hybrid child are still living on this world, which will bring other hybrid children onto this world, in whose blood the blood of the Saiyajins will become steadily weaker. Someday the legacy of the Saiyajins will die in the very weak genetic makeup of the humans and be forgotten. No one would remember the proud people, but if you come with me, you could conquer the whole galaxy in the name of Vegeta. Arch-general Vegeta! Trillions of beings would know your name and the name of your people for millennia." Metacooler spread his arms solemnly. "What a great memory it would be!"

"I won't let you enslave me again. I'm a free…"

"A free warrior?" Cooler asked. „You're nothing more than the babysitter for the offspring of your greatest rival. But children have the habit of growing up. That brat called Jenny won't need you anymore, Vegeta, and you will wait alone for death. Is it that what you call freedom?"

"And what would happen to her, if I follow you, Cooler?"

Metacooler understood this question as sign that he was close to his goal. "As proof that you have finished this chapter of your life, you will kill her."

* * *

**to be continued in Part III...**


	3. Part III

**Part III**

Vegeta's body tensed and he took a deep breath. "So, that's your offer. That's really by far the biggest piece of shit I've ever heard, you fucking asshole!"

Cooler hadn't expected Vegeta to have a will this strong. But this wasn't important. He was an Ice-jin and he would just break him. A painful defeat or helplessness could quickly change the mind of a warrior.

"I've made the important decisions for myself. And I won't go back on them, just because you believe that you're some kind of god!"

With these words the Saiyajin attacked again and Cooler did the same. The Ice-jin and Vegeta flew at each other and met in the middle for hand-to-hand combat. Metacooler performed the first hit, which Vegeta dodged by jumping slightly to the side. The warrior with the golden hair turned sideways floating two feet above the ground and pulled back for his own punch, but Cooler blocked it with his upper arm. Vegeta eventually landed with both feet on the ground and took turns hitting with the right and the left fist, while the golden flame around his body was only growing in intensity. Both times Metacooler was able to fight off the attack, which made Vegeta increase the speed angrily.

For a layman's eye too fast his fists were flying against Cooler's defenses and this happened again and again. The punches really rained down on him, but Cooler just kept blocking him. The Ice-jin concentrated only on defending himself, to show Vegeta how futile this fight was.

And while the fight continued this way, a heavy wind was coming from both fighters, which was blowing through the holographic arena.

Finally Metacooler finished this level of the battle and grabbed Vegeta's right wrist with one hand.

"You're much too slow. I feel like someone, whose opponent is wearing a vest made of lead. If you don't have to offer more, this will be over quickly."

"I have more to offer," Vegeta replied stubbornly and fired with the palm of the grabbed wrist a Galick Gun, which hit Cooler directly. The Ice-jin let go of the Super Saiyajin, who jumped backwards and landed in a fighting stance.

The smoke slowly cleared, while Vegeta was waiting for the next step of his opponent. Pearls of sweat had appeared on his forehead and also his breathing was a bit irregular. This fight had started to drain the Saiyajin of his strength.

Suddenly the smoke cover tore open and a reddish but thin beam flew at Vegeta. The Saiyajin couldn't dodge anymore, so the ki-beam shot past him, but grazed his cheek, where he felt a burning pain. The Prince was sure that a direct hit would have been his end.

This damn cyber-lizard was playing with him. It didn't want to kill him, but defeat him and humiliate him. But Cooler could forget that.

As soon as Vegeta had finished that thought, the Ice-jin appeared directly in front of him and hit him. Metacooler's fist hit Vegeta directly in the face, which broke his nose. Blood spurted from his nose and the split lip. Due to the force of the hit, Vegeta should have been flung away, but Metacooler kept holding onto his golden hair and pulled him closer.

"It is not my aim, but apparently you only learn respect by enduring pain, General."

"I'm not your General, you…" Metacooler didn't allow the Super Saiyajin to finish the sentence, but hit him again hard into the stomach. Vegeta gasped loudly, but the Ice-jin still wasn't satisfied.

"You will be eternally grateful."

With these words Metacooler let the hair of his opponent go and socked him in the jaw. Vegeta was thrown into the air and Cooler followed him. He was floating directly above the flying Super Saiyajin, where he hit him once again into the stomach to send him down. With incredible speed Vegeta crashed into the ground, so that a cloud of dust was whirled up. As the dust had settled, the light-haired warrior and Prince of Saiyajins was lying in a pretty big crater.

Metacooler slowly landed next to him and was standing directly next to the Super Saiyajin, who was still lying on the ground, and kicked him in the side.

"Is it really worth it?"

Vegeta didn't answer, but tried again to get to his feet, coughing. However, Metacooler knew how to stop this, by letting himself drop directly on the Saiyajin and remaining sitting on the back of the warrior.

Vegeta's spine was about to break under the weight, while all the air was pushed out of the Super Saiyajin's lungs. He had now clearly lost control over the fight.

"This courage is impressive. Because of this, I'm willing to be so gracious to spare the life of that brat."

"What… do you… mean… with this?" Vegeta's voice hissed weakly. Around his body, cracks were appearing in the ground.

"Her Saiyajin-blood is impure. She's partly human and because of this Vegeta's heritage is weaker than in a pureblooded Saiyajin. But this doesn't mean that I can't use her. When you're really so attached to this nuisance, I will find a place for her in my army. Two Super Saiyajins are better than one, when you get what I mean. So, what do you say to this even more generous offer?"

Vegeta was breathing heavily and waited before he answered. "These… times are over."

"Excuse me?" Metacooler wanted to know.

"The times… during which we were slaves, are finally over. As long as… I can fight. As long as… my Saiyajin-heart is beating, no being with just a bit… of Saiyajin-blood… will bow before an Ice-jin… ever again. No matter… how little the amount is…"

Metacooler sighed. "What's this? This… ‚I'd rather die free than live as a servant.'-concept is so incredibly cliché. This is no heroic tale, no story written by an author with romantic views of a free warrior, who never bows before anyone. This is the harsh reality, Vegeta. When you throw your life away, it's lost. So, don't be so free with your own death."

Metacooler got up slowly and rose into the air. "I've got to admit, I hadn't expected these tough negotiations, but if there's no other way, I've got no other choice. I certainly won't accept a No as answer. I'm Cooler. A Lord of the Ice-jins and soon Greatlord over the whole Galaxy. When I've decided I want something, I'll get it."

Vegeta shakily got back to his feet and looked up at where Metacooler was floating above him in the air. Slowly he gathered some energy to continue the fight, even though he as Super Saiyajin barely had any reserves left.

"Life's got some new lessons for everyone," the Prince hissed quickly, while Metacooler was gathering his energy in his fingertips and then began shooting ki-balls in turns with his right and his left hand.

Vegeta looked up and saw the glowing red balls flying down at him.

The Prince of Saiyajins gritted his teeth, averted his gaze from the approaching ki-balls and concentrated on Metacooler instead.

"I'm really sick of this!" Vegeta cursed, just one second before the ki-balls hit him and the Super Saiyajin disappeared in several explosions. Cooler had started to put him under constant fire.

…

It was actually just the noise that kept Juunanagou conscious. But also the pain in his whole body played a not so insignificant part in this. Since his duel with Buu the black-haired Jinzoningen hadn't been this exhausted and battered. But even as it looked now they wouldn't just allow him to die.

He had failed in the battle against Cell, had been defeated by this pink demon and now also this android had apparently been too strong for him. But why couldn't his opponents just kill him and be done with it to end his suffering? Maybe this Cooler would do it for him and send him to Juuhachigou, wherever she was now.

The black-haired Jinzoningen was lying on his back and stared at this blue holographic sky until the face of the Coolerdroid appeared over him and looked at him in amusement.

"Don't you think, it's enough now?" Cooler's mirror image asked.

"Shut up and do what you want."

"Is your will to live really so low?" Slowly the android raised his foot, stepped with full force on the Jinzoningen's ribcage and put his whole weight on him.

It was creaking and cracking in such a weird manner that Juunanagou spit out a big torrent of blood.

Juunanagou gasped once, his eyes rolled back in his head and his head fell to the side. The android watched, as his opponent lost consciousness.

"Don't worry, my enhanced friend. You will no longer suffer any pain and your energy will be very useful." The Coolerdroid turned his head in the direction of the explosions. Apparently this battle will soon be decided, as well."

While the android was speaking these words, cables shot out of the ground and chained the Jinzoningen, whose energy would be a cornerstone for Cooler's reign.

…

It felt as if he were floating. As if he were incredibly light and free of any pain. There was actually just some kind of trance, which made this moment appear unreal. It wasn't easy, but Juunangou managed to open his eyes. There was nothing around him. Just some white light, which warmed him considerably.

"Juunanagou?" he heard a voice, which seemed to come from everywhere. It was female and familiar. A voice the black-haired Jinzoningen hadn't heart in a long time. A voice he had believed he would never be allowed to hear again.

"Juuhachigou?" he asked with a weak voice and too quietly, but apparently whatever sounded like his dead sister had still heard him.

"You may not give up. This Cooler will end countless of lives. Not just on Earth. Thousands of planets are in danger."

"Juuhachigou, where are you?" he asked, without reacting to what she had said.

Then he saw her. A woman with blond hair was standing directly in front of him. Her face reminded strongly of Juunanagou's, but there was an expression on her face, which actually didn't fit to her. At least not one Juunanagou had seen on her face, since they had been transformed into Jinzoningen by Dr. Gero.

There was no cruelty in her eyes, nothing hostile, just worry and love.

"I'm so incredibly sorry," Junnanagou whispered and a few tears were streaming down his face. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't stop Buu. You would still be alive, if the fight had ended differently."

Juunanagou then did something he hadn't done since his childhood. Something he as Jinzoningen had always been too strong for. He cried.

"Stop," Juuhachigou said, but she said it softly. "I'm grateful that it has ended this way. You could have never defeated Buu and so you could at least survive."

"But what about you?" Juunanagou asked desperately.

"I think that it has been something like my destiny to die. You've got to understand, I'm not alone here. My husband and my daughter are with me. So you don't need to blame yourself. It had to be this way. And just like it was my destiny to be killed by Buu, it's your destiny to live. Earth needs fighters that can protect her. And I want you to enjoy your life. I don't want to watch how my brother wastes his times drunk in bars."

"But what am I still good for? I've lost you and I haven't been strong enough to keep up with the Saiyajins for a long time."

"But you're still stronger than the humans, so you should use your power to protect them. By doing this you should again find a reason to live."

Juunanagou took her words to heart, but one question still needed to be asked. "Will I ever see you again?"

Juuhachigou looked uncertain as she answered. "I hope so, but we've both done much we could have gone to hell for. I was forgiven, but I can't make you any promises."

Juunanagou smiled. "You may not be able to promise me, Juuhachigou, but I will give you my word," the black-haired man answered and felt that something had returned to him. Something that had been asleep for years, for so long that he had believed it to be dead. "I will give you my word that I will see you again, no matter where you are now. My sins will also be forgiven and then I will be allowed to join you and your family someday."

Juuhachigou smiled happily. "I hope you're right."

Then she disappeared and Juunanagou woke again up in Cooler's arena. The pain was also back, but it didn't seem to be as strong as before. The exhaustion, too, wasn't weighing him down as much anymore.

Cables coming from the ground had wrapped themselves around the Jinzoningen to keep him down, but he didn't need a lot of strength to tear them apart and get back on his feet.

"Hey!" he called towards the Coolerdroid, breathing heavily, while he was taking off his old brown coat and then began to roll up his sleeves.

The android turned to the Jinzoningen. "Impressive. You shouldn't be able to stand anymore, much less be conscious."

Juunanagou cracked with his knuckles. He had decided to stop this Cooler and to give everything in this battle from now on. He would fight for his right to see his sister again.

The android walked up to him with slow steps. "But maybe this stubbornness is a programming error. Maybe your creator would have eliminated this bug with the next productions."

"You want me to tell you something, asshole?" Juunanagou asked with a meaningful smile. "I'm the peak of weapon technology and you're just a piece of polished space scrap with an ego that's way too big and behavior that gets really annoying after a short time. So, explain this to me again. You're an interplanetary dictator, who spends his time to conquer worlds and destroy other cultures."

The Coolerdroid stepped steady closer. "Something like that, even though it's a holiday, when I destroy a culture. Let's the slaves have their gods, as long as they work hard."

"I'm really lucky," Juunanagou said thoughtfully, which the Coolerdroid didn't seem to understand. The explanation, however, already came in his next sentences. "I think, I can book a nice room in paradise, when I kick the ass of a tyrant like you."

"You're crazy. Is this the alcohol speaking?"

Juunanagou shook his head. "I believe I haven't been that sober in years, you polished douchebag." The Jinzoningen raised his arms and prepared himself to end this fight, even though he still felt the exhaustion deep in his bones. "Emperors first," he said provokingly and the android attacked.

Juunanagou managed to dodge the first punch, found a hole in his enemy's defense and hit back.

His fist hit the Coolerdroid's face on the cheek, which forced him to stumble a step backwards. But the black-haired warrior didn't stop at this. He shifted into a higher gear to finish this here and now.

He took a step forwards, swung his fist back and socked the Coolerdroid again. Then Juunanagou disappeared in high speed and appeared again behind the android, who hadn't managed to recover from the former attack. With an aimed kick the Jinzoningen flung Cooler's copy with a lot of force into a huge rock.

"How can you have such a big mouth? I've seen microwaves and electric toothbrushes who could do more," Juunanagou taunted and fired two ki-blasts, which pulverized the debris, under which the Coolerdroid was buried.

Exhaustedly gasping for air, Juunanagou now turned his attention to Metacooler, who was floating above the arena and was still firing his attacks at a specific point, apparently not planning on stopping soon. It seemed as if Vegeta had some problems.

Even though Juunanagou was reluctant, he decided to help the Saiyajin. "The things you do to escape hell."

But then he heard something behind him that made him act carefully. He turned around quickly and saw the Coolerdroid attacking him. But Juunanagou was quicker.

His hit was precise and effective. With brutal power the right fist of the Jinzoningen punched through the android's torso and remained stuck between the cables inside his enemy.

This didn't stop the android, however. With a dark smirk the artificial Ice-jin wrapped his hands around the Jinzoningen's throat and pressed hard.

"I'm no longer interested in your energy. You will die. Now."

Juunanagou couldn't breathe anymore, but he was still smiling. He was croaking something unintelligible, which caused the Coolerdroid to lower the pressure a bit.

"What did you say?"

"That I will give you energy, if you want me to. I call it Beaming Death."

With these words Juunanagou released a ki-attack with his right hand inside the Coolerdroid. Out of the edges of the hole, a bright light was trying to escape, and eventually the eyes and mouth of the android began to glow brightly.

Finally the big beam broke through the back of the Coolerdroid, which destroyed him.

Juunanagou was standing there alone and watching the back of his hand. He was bleeding from a small wound. For a short moment he had felt as if something in the Coolerdroid had bit him.

The Jinzoningen discarded the thought, however, and concentrated again on the real Cooler. He gathered all his courage and power and flew up at him.

He didn't allow himself to be impressed by the wide appearance of Metacooler.

"Do you mind, if I cut in? It would be unfair, if you just danced with the Saiyajin."

Cooler looked to the side and only fired with one hand his hail of attacks.

"You want to challenge me, drunkard?"

"Looks like it," Juunanagou replied cheekily.

"You barely managed to destroy a Coolerdroid, so how do you think you can get rid of me?"

"No idea, got some kind of feeling, asshole!"

"I will destroy you, when you attack me," Metacooler assured him.

Juunanagou shrugged and played down, how exhausted he really felt. "Well, okay… Tell me, I've heard that every woman looks like a supermodel in paradise. Do you think it's exaggerated?"

"Are you crazy?" Cooler asked.

"I just wanted to hear your opinion about that. Well, I'll send you a postcard into the hell for half-mechanic lizard-aliens and tell you, if it's true or not."

Juunanagou extended his arms in front of him and his palms began to glow.

"Beaming Death!" he yelled and fired a ki-beam, which hit Metacooler and let him disappear in a blinding detonation. The attacks of the Ice-jin stopped and for a short moment the Jinzoningen really believed that he had pulverized this monster.

But this hope didn't last long, because Metacooler was still floating in the air, completely unharmed. The Ice-jin had crossed his arms protectively in front of his body until he noticed that the Jinzoningen's attack hadn't been effective. Metacooler finally relaxed and looked at his opponent.

"This was a lot of light for nothing, you fool."

Juunanagou was breathing only weakly, lowered his arms and looked down at himself.

"Sorry… I think… I need a short break," he whispered and then dropped like a stone. He was falling head down towards the ground, but was caught a few inches above the ground by a warrior with blond hair.

Carefully Vegeta put the Jinzoningen in front of him on the ground. The Super Saiyajin was bleeding from countless wounds and his blue gi was torn in many places. The Prince of a people of unfaltering warriors had suffered under Metacooler's last attacks and wouldn't be able to stand another one of these attacks.

Without another words Vegeta flew to a bigger hill in the middle of the holo-arena, while Metacooler landed a few yards away from him. Both opponents were looking at each other.

"You look good, last of the true, pureblooded Saiyajins. Good for the fact that you just had to deal with my Deathly Hail. No one has ever survived this technique. You can really regard this as a compliment, Vegeta. But it's over now. Swear your loyalty to me and follow your destiny. I know that you want to do it."

Vegeta wiped some blood from his face. "You know what's really annoying, Cooler? All this time you act as if you have just the slightest idea about us Saiyajin. You try to tell me, what my honor tells me to do and you seem to believe that you know, where my limits are. But an arrogant braggadocios bastard like you have no idea of honor and shouldn't judge my power level."

Cooler remained calm, even though he was slowly losing his patience. Why was this primitive barbarian so stubborn? For the first time, Cooler considered destroying Vegeta. But why not? There was still this girl on this world, who was also carrying the heritage of the Saiyajins in her body. Well, he would have to be satisfied with her, if all else failed. Maybe it would be easier to control this child than this narrow-minded Prince. It made sense to keep this alternative in his mind.

"You've got to admit that my power level is much stronger than the one of a Super Saiyajin. You can't feel it, of course. I consist for the biggest part of android-components, but our battle should have proven to you that I'm the strongest warrior in the universe."

Vegeta listened to him and smirked. "The strongest warrior in the universe?" the warrior asked and began to laugh loudly and mockingly. Hearing Vegeta laugh was something that didn't happen very often, which Cooler also knew. It made him angry. Did he look like a clown? Was he joking?

"What's wrong with you?" Metacooler hissed.

"You're right!" Vegeta admitted. „You can defeat a Super Saiyajin, but this doesn't mean that you're the number one."

"So you believe that you're the best?"

Vegeta shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm at least closer to this title than you, Cooler."

Cooler didn't understand. "You have long become a Super Saiyajin. You have reached your absolute limit."

"If you really knew what you're talking about, you would know one thing. There's one rule for my people. If the Super Saiyajin isn't enough, just surpass this limit."

"Which limit?"

Vegeta smirked and his eyes were sparkling dangerously. "Are you curious, Cooler? Do you want to see, what I'm talking about? Do you want to experience it firsthand?" The Prince downright roared the last words. "I can guarantee that you will regret it. Once I get really started, there won't even be a screw left of you."

Cooler sighed. "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You will see in a moment," Vegeta promised. He bowed slightly, balled his fists and let out a long war cry, which echoed through the whole arena.

"You're a pathetic monkey," Cooler said disappointed and let a reddish energy ball appear in his hand without much effort. "I think, I should be so kind to release you of the suffering of this insanity."

* * *

_In the meantime in the Western Capital…_

"He's been gone for so long," she thought, while she was walking through the house for what felt like the thousandth time, always looking out of the windows and looking for signs for a looming apocalypse. But the night was the same as usual. As quiet as can be expected in a city of this size.

Mrs. Briefs sighed. It was possible that she wouldn't even notice a lot of what would precede the direct destruction. The older woman didn't know what she was supposed to think. How should she feel in a moment like this?

She wasn't the youngest anymore and she guessed that her own time on Earth was limited. Was it right then, to pray that she wouldn't have to die? Should she maybe look forward to seeing her daughter, her grandson Trunks and all the others again, soon? But what about the rest of the world? What about Jenny?

Hadn't she deserved a quiet, normal life after all the suffering of the past months? Wasn't it exactly this that this small brave girl had deserved, after she had to go through so much?

With these thoughts Mrs. Briefs went to the door to the child's room and opened it. In the dim light she could see Jenny, who was lying peacefully in her bed, fast asleep. Slowly the woman clasped her hands.

Vegeta had told her, he would be able to defeat Cooler without any problems. She wanted to believe him.

"I hope you're right, I truly do."

* * *

A loud explosion could be heard and suddenly a huge flame of golden fire was burning around the Super Saiyajin and small stone that were lying close to him, began to rise into the air and even bigger stones were floating around him.

Cooler watched this with interested and hesitated in firing his deadly ki-ball. This spectacle in front of him was fascinating him.

The Ice-jin wanted to know what this was supposed to mean, which the nervous whipping of his tail clearly showed.

Then it happened. Vegeta disappeared for a short moment in a blinding light, which was so bright that even Metacooler had to close his eyes. After a few seconds he opened them again and the Super Saiyajin was standing on the hill as if nothing had happened. Metacooler saved this impression taken in by his visual sensors and immediately noticed that his opponent had changed slightly.

The color of the aura of flames and the hair was somehow more intense and at the same time blue sparks were dancing around the body of the Prince of the destroyed planet Vegeta in irregular intervals.

"You've transformed somehow," Metacooler said thoughtfully.

"It looks like your body doesn't possess any scouter technology," Vegeta replied to this laughable assessment.

"Why should the strongest know, how strong the weaker ones are?"

"So you have no idea, what's going to happen to you?" the Prince asked, but didn't allow the Ice-jin to answer. Suddenly Vegeta had disappeared and reappeared again directly in front of Metacooler.

He was surprised.

"How did you do this? You can't be that fast! Not even as Super Saiyajin."

"I'm no simple Super Saiyajin anymore. I'm something much stronger. I've just reached the second level. I and the Super Saiyajin of the first level are worlds apart."

"I don't believe you!" Metacooler countered and threw a punch. He had expected to land a hit, but much later than should have been necessary, Vegeta tilted his head to the side, which made Cooler's hit simply pass him.

This first scare gave way to determination, so that Metacooler fired the prepared energy ball, which Vegeta could dodge again with the same method. The Prince crossed his arms across his chest.

"A bit too slow for someone who wants to become Greatlord."

"It's enough for you!" Cooler prophesized and tried to hit him again and again, but his fists never connected, no matter how hard he tried.

After some time Vegeta became impatient and started to launch a counter-attack. His fist shot through Cooler's defenses and directly hit his face, which threw the Ice-jin a few yards backwards, where he remained lying on his back.

Patiently the Super Saiyajin in the second level waited until the Lord of the Ice-jins was standing again and was watching him, as he felt his dented cheek. In the rest of his face the complete bewilderment was more than obvious.

"How… did you did this?"

Vegeta put a murderous smile on his face. "I can imagine that it was pretty fast. Maybe you didn't notice it because of this. But don't worry, I will gladly show you this again."

Metacooler couldn't answer anymore, as Vegeta flew straight at him and punched him hard straight in the chest. But this was just the beginning. At a tearing pace the Saiyajin changed his position and covered the massive body of the Ice-jin with glowing punches. All of them pushed the metal armor inside.

While Cooler was feeling each attack, he never managed to locate Vegeta, who kept working on Metacooler's outer armor. The only thing he really noticed was the golden tail of energy which was wrapping around him and announced the fast movements of the Super Saiyajin always a bit too late.

After almost one minute Vegeta finished his attack and landed with crossed arms a few steps away from Metacooler, who had to fight really hard to stay on his feet. He staggered and wounded shifted his weight from leg to leg.

The whole armor was covered with dents and looked like a crater landscape. It didn't look at all like Metacooler could continue this fight.

Horrified Cooler stared at his opponent. "I didn't expect that," his shaking voice said.

Vegeta didn't show any pity. "That's what happens when you think you know everything about your opponent. I've experienced this myself more than once on this planet."

"Okay? So what?" Cooler finally hissed. He apparently tried to nip his own uncertainty by this outburst in the bud. "I will crush you, Vegeta! You and this brat! What do you say now?"

"That you're welcome to try," Vegeta replied unimpressed and then attacked again. He once again rushed at Cooler, who was gathering his own energy. Since he wasn't attempting to fire a blast or volley, Vegeta could guess what would happen.

That why he managed to stop at the last moment and jump back to escape the energy barrier which Metacooler had just erected. It was some kind of cover made of pure ki, which was lying protectively around Cooler. Red sparks shot across the dark red surface of the dome, which diameter was around fifteen yards.

Vegeta growled. "What's this supposed to be?"

Metacooler was standing smirking inside of this half-bowl which he had created. It was the perfect protection of this monster. In this second he congratulated his brother Frieza for his decision. These creatures had to be destroyed, when you thought about how much damage they could cause. How foolish he had been to want to make Vegeta one of his Generals.

This fighter was a beast, a real danger for Cooler's reign and maybe even his survival. He would destroy this dog before he could bite.

There were some loud noises and yellow lights flickered on the red barrier. The damned Ubersuper Saiyajin apparently fired a few attacks at the dome to try to break it.

"You idiot!" the desolate Metacooler grinned. More than a few ki-attacks were necessary to break through his powerful nova-shield. This technique cost a lot of energy, but it was definitely worth it.

Slowly Vegeta lowered his arm, because he now knew what kind of dome this was. "This is bull shit," Vegeta growled warily and slowly walked towards the nova-shield. "Do you really think that…" he started with a calm and controlled voice, while several white lightning bolts appeared around his right fist. "… you can stop me with a pathetic shield like this?" he roared loudly, pulled back and punched the shield with his right fist, which managed to break through the dome. There were a lot of red discharges, which were dancing around Vegeta's arm and the Saiyajin gritted his teeth because of the pain and wrath.

This fucking lizard had insulted him! It had offered him to crawl in the dirt before it. It had assumed that it would be able to defeat him and had questioned his decisions. Cooler had no right to do that and he would die for this.

"You can't hide from me!" the Prince yelled and set the last of his power free, which managed to bring down the shield, as it began to get pierced with ki-blasts, until it went down completely. Metacooler was now standing shell-shocked and unprotected in front of the warrior with the golden hair.

The ground under the lizard's feet had been vaporized and made way for iron plates. They shouldn't forget that this was just a holo-arena in the middle of a gigantic complex, which consisted of Ghetti-technology.

"How did you do this?" Cooler demanded to know in some kind of desperate frustration. He apparently tried to hold forcefully onto his hope to survive this.

"It wasn't more difficult than this," Vegeta explained and appeared directly in front of Metacooler. He grabbed his right arm and put his own hand on the deformed chest.

The Saiyajin didn't fire a ki-blast, but caused a huge shockwave with his ki, which was shot concentrated through his hand and pushed Cooler away. He was still holding tightly onto his arm, which was eventually torn away from the body, while Metacooler slid away several yards.

Stunned the Ice-jin watched, as Vegeta just crushed the cybertronic limb in his hand and let the pieces fall to the ground.

At this moment Cooler realized something. A certainty he had never expected. He had come back to his feet after so hard defeats, even though he had been believed to be dead. But here and now there was no way out. He barely had any power left and this Super Saiyajin in the second level just seemed to get warmed up.

How could he escape? How could he survive this?

There were really the last remains of his biological self built into Metacooler; this version was the original one, which would be destroyed. Cooler had completely forgotten, what state his kingdom was in, that two Lords of the Ice-jins were working to bring it down for good. All thoughts of politics were banished from his mind and the only thing that mattered now was survival. His survival. Here he was now. Completely battered, while a few cables were hanging out of the stump of his right arm. In front of him, Vegeta was standing with a haughty look on his face. A look which should only be reserved for an Ice-jin.

"Stop smirking!" Cooler yelled in despair, which only made Vegeta sigh quietly.

"You will die in a moment, Cooler, and that's the only thing that's bothering you? My smirk?"

Cooler's jaw trembled.

'Shut up!' he thought, but didn't say it. There just had to be a way out of this situation.

"Is there anything else you want to say or do you want your end to be a trembling and speechless one?"

Cooler didn't answer. He was too caught up in his thoughts. Why did he come here? What did he want on Earth? Hadn't it been expected from the very beginning that Vegeta would never join him?

At this moment the other possibility seemed so far away and absurd. How stupid he must have been. But why had he been tempted? These Saiyajins were dangerous monsters that couldn't be tamed.

_"__You will stand there and curse yourself, because you thought that Earth was helpless. You will curse yourself, because you have, as it is your nature, completely and exorbitantly overestimated your abilities," _he heard the Prince's voice again. Vegeta had promised him exactly this at the beginning of their fight and it had come true.

Suddenly something changed. The fear disappeared as it passed a limit and made way for something else.

"So I'm going to die?" the Ice-jin asked, which sounded more like a concession. "But certainly not like this."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. "Not?"

Cooler grimaced and looked like someone who was insane. "There is a way. You will moan and beg, Vegeta, but I won't spare any of you. That's what I promise you in return."

"You're making no sense."

"Oh really?" Cooler asked giggling. „Or are you just too afraid, great warrior? Afraid of my true power, afraid of what I could do? Do you want to see it?"

Vegeta couldn't stop the chuckle. Cooler apparently did understand a bit of the Saiyajins' mentality. "If it makes you happy."

Vegeta had barely finished this sentence as a round opening appeared next to Cooler in the ground, in which he disappeared. The opening was closed again behind Cooler.

* * *

**to be continued in Part IV...**


	4. Part IV

**Part IV**

"Why did you let him do this?" Juunanagou asked behind him. The Jinzoningen with the scarf came swaying to the side of the Saiyajin. "We've got to follow him."

"Forget it," Vegeta told him. "Cooler seems to plan something. But he knows that I can follow him at any time. The lizard is planning something to save his hide, so we let him try it." The Saiyajin bowed his head and looked at Juunanagou. "What about you? Do you still want to fight me once I'm done with Cooler?"

"Better not," Juunanagou answered. "For one, you're much stronger than me, and I've also got to gather some bonus points, when I want to go to Heaven someday."

…

Cooler hurried and threw himself a few levels under the holo-arena on his throne, where cables immediately connected with him and supplied him with new energy. And even though his exhaustion lessened a bit, he was sure that he would still stand no chance against Vegeta."

He needed more, much more. A complete overhaul.

"Start new construction. Circumvent all safety protocols," he formulated his order and mechanic arms with pliers, welding needles and other tools came out of the walls and began to take Metacooler apart, only to build a new model with new parts.

After a few minutes a new creature was sitting on the throne, which was less massive than Metacooler.

The being smiled insanely. "Now, give me energy! One hundred percent!"

Then it started! From all parts of the complex every imaginably source of energy was tapped, so that energy began to flow into the new Cooler-construct from all over the complex. The Ice-jin felt like a new man, but he still needed more, much more.

While he was taking in the reserves of his complex, also the last living batteries were tapped. The three hundred prisoners were completely sucked dry, which caused them to age by decades within seconds and they died as dried out, wasted figures.

Cooler laughed loudly. "You just wait, Vegeta!"

…

"How long will this take?" Juunanagou asked himself, while he was pacing nervously. At the same time, Vegeta was just standing there with his arms crossed in front of his chest, waiting as well.

Suddenly the light went out in the arena.

The blue sky had given way to the darkness and their whole surroundings had transformed into an empty hall. Vegeta's golden aura was the only source of light and saved them from the complete darkness.

"A blackout?" the Jinzoningen asked irritated, while Vegeta could already guess what this had to mean. But he kept it to himself. If what he feared came true, Juunanagou would be able to do even less in a fight against Cooler than before.

Then the ground burst open not far away from them. A creature, surrounded by a flame of black energy, came floating through this big crack.

"Damn," Vegeta hissed, whose assumption had just proven to be true, while Juunanagou was whistling.

"New look, Cooler?"

The Ice-jin truly appeared in a completely new form, which didn't resemble the first form at all anymore. At first glance Vegeta was reminded of Frieza's last form, only that this Cooler had two horns protruding from his forehead, which went backwards over his iron skull.

The artificial face of the enemy showed a crazy smile.

Vegeta didn't waste any time and started his next attack. The Super Saiyajin in the second level pulled back for a punch during flight, but just as he had meant to hit him, Cooler had disappeared and was finally standing a few yards away, turning his back to Vegeta.

With a fear inducing look on his face Cooler was looking at his right hand, which was glowing in a weird strange red.

"Incredible, what this new body is capable of," he mumbled with an insane fascination in his voice. Exactly at this moment, Vegeta spit out a big gust of blood and fell gasping to his knees. The golden aura around him dimmed a bit.

Juunanagou almost couldn't believe it. The Ice-jin must have dodged Vegeta's attack and at the same time landed an effective hit. And that so fast that the Jinzoningen hadn't even noticed it. How strong did this beast still want to become?

"It's almost sad. With this strength, no one can hurt me anymore. All your threats are now only smoke and mirrors, Vegeta. I'm invincible. I'm Ultracooler!" The Ice-jin enjoyed this moment and chuckled. "How does it feel to know that you're going to die in a moment?"

Vegeta growled and wiped some blood from his lower lip. He wasn't able to get back to his feet yet, but the Super Saiyajin still hadn't given up. "Why don't you tell me, Cooler?" the Prince countered.

"I beg your pardon?" Ultracooler asked, and his voice began to sound dangerous.

"Now stop pretending. This holo-arena has been deactivated, because you sucked out its energy. I guess you took all the energy of this ostentatious building into yourself, am I right?"

"So what?" hissed Cooler and walked slowly up to the kneeling Vegeta.

"I know that you need the energy to survive. That's why the Big Ghetti-Star assaulted the planet of the Nameks. And I'm pretty sure that your new body burns a lot of energy. When will the level reach zero, Cooler? I hope, you're enjoying your last minutes."

While Vegeta was speaking, the steps came closer and a hard kick hit him and the Saiyajin flew through the air and crashed against the wall of the big hall.

"You can bet on it, you monkey," Cooler replied. "And I hope, you're doing the same, because I've decided to do something really special for you. You lousy bug have taken from me what was the most important to me. I am an Ice-jin. It's my destiny, the purpose of my life, to reign, but because of you I will never see my kingdom again. You're right, this body burns a lot of energy and this alarmingly fast. I will lose my life on this useless world. But so will you, Vegeta. We'll both go to hell."

The Prince of Saiyajins was sitting leaning against the wall and tried to keep his eyes open, while he was listening to Cooler. Inwardly he was preparing for his death, but it was still letting him wait.

"You surely don't believe that I'll kill you just like that." Again Cooler's face grimaced crazily. "You've made the meaning of my life unobtainable and because of this, I will also take yours. You can only call it justice, can't you, you pathetic babysitter?"

"You won't dare!" Vegeta threatened, but Ultracooler just laughed and took off. Without hesitating he broke through the ceiling, while his sick laughter was still echoing for many seconds after him.

Juunanagou wasn't sure at first and looked back and forth between the hole and Vegeta, whose face was showing some kind of horror. What did this mean? What was Cooler planning?

"Shit!" the Jinzoningen growled and followed the Ice-jin. He had apparently broken through every level of his huge fortress and so it wasn't difficult to follow Ultracooler. He eventually flew through the last hole and landed on the flat roof of the fortress. A cold wind was blowing that let his scarf flutter. It was cold in the desert at night. Immediately Junnanagou tried to find the enemy and noticed him floating in the night sky above him.

Juunanagou didn't know at once, what he was supposed to do. Even Vegeta hadn't stood a chance against Ultracooler and so it was actually senseless to face this monster. But on the other hand it seemed as if Cooler's battery would soon be empty. Maybe he just needed to be distracted for a bit.

Uncertainly Juunanagou got into a fighting stance. "Alright, I'm ready!"

Ultracooler laughed loudly and amusedly. "Do you think I'll waste my energy, no matter how little it is? You are so weak that you don't matter at all in the battle between Vegeta and me. But don't worry, you'll die anyway, even though I won't deal with you personally."

The cybernetic Ice-jin raised his arm and let a ball of red energy appear, which just kept growing. It woke the worst fears in Juunanagou, as the size of the ball increased.

"With an attack like this, you can't aim properly. So you don't want to hit someone specific with it, but blow up this whole planet."

Cooler shook his head. "Almost correct, but still wrong. Earth doesn't interest me. That it will be destroyed is a side effect, but I know that a child will die, a child that Vegeta wants to protect so much. That's my revenge!"

"Sick bastard!" Juunanagou yelled at the Ice-jin and tried to mobilize a bit of his ki. Maybe he would be able to fend off this huge ball, even though the probability was more than small.

'One way or another,' he thought to himself. 'If I die trying to stop it or go down with the rest of the world, in the end the result will be the same.'

"Get out of my way," a voice behind him growled, which startled Juunanagou, as Vegeta walked past him and regarded the situation.

"What are you planning?" the Jinzoningen asked, but the Saiyajin didn't answer.

"Stay away," Vegeta eventually ordered. "Should I survive this and it's certain that Cooler's attack is no longer a problem, you can bet that I won't be able to fight anymore. You will have to keep him busy until he dies on his own. He will use a lot of energy with this attack, so you should be able to do it."

Juunanagou swallowed involuntarily and flew off, to land on a rocky hill a bit further away.

"Your last action, Vegeta?" Cooler asked filled with anticipation, while it appeared that the size of the energy-ball hat reached its absolute peak.

"Just as yours, Cooler," the Saiyajin answered and then cried out loudly. In a huge explosion the golden aura around him spread and tore big chunks out of the fortress's roof. Vegeta concentrated the energies in his body.

"It will be decided now!"

* * *

At first Mrs. Briefs almost hadn't believed it and only shrugged it off as her imagination. She had assumed that it was just a side-effect of her fear, but now she couldn't deny it any longer. The Earth was trembling.

It was weak, but still noticeable.

"No, please," the old woman whispered. She had taken a chair and sat down at Jenny's bed. She wanted to be with a person she loved, when the world might end, not wanting to wait for death alone. The fight with Vegeta against this Cooler could of course be completely unrelated to the earthquake, but how probable was this? Should she lie to herself, even though it was obvious what these fighters were capable? This was a sure sign that the fight was starting its last round.

"Vegeta… watch out," Jenny mumbled suddenly in her sleep and nervously threw her head back and forth. "Vegeta… he's too strong. Run away…"

Mrs. Briefs felt the despair in Jenny's voice, how her own mouth went dry. Another sign? Was it already decided that Vegeta would lose? Jenny could feel kis, too, after all, and maybe noticed details of the fight that the old woman couldn't sense.

Tears ran down the young girl's face, who was getting more and more restless. "Vegeta!" she cried out and Mrs. Briefs decided to step in.

"Jenny, wake up. You're only having a nightmare," she said gently and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

Startled the girl opened her eyes and seemed to need a moment to recognize where she was.

She was breathing unevenly and her face was still filled with pure fear. "Where is Vegeta?" she asked hurriedly.

The old woman wanted to answer, but then Jenny already seemed to sense that a battle was fought somewhere on Earth.

"He needs my help," she said and wanted to jump out of her bed, but Mrs. Briefs held tightly onto her. The girl looked at her uncomprehendingly.

"What are you doing? He's in trouble!"

Mrs. Briefs shook her head. "No, he isn't," she said with a voice that was missing the determination in her opinion. She simply wasn't a good liar.

"But the energies he's using. Something is wrong!" Jenny persisted. „The Earth is trembling even here."

"He wanted to train. Some kind of special training. You know him."

"Why hasn't he taken me with him?"

Mrs. Briefs forced a fake smile on her face, but she would have rather cried. She felt so bad. "Because you have to go to school tomorrow and it would be much too difficult for you."

"Did Vegeta say that?" the girl asked and Mrs. Briefs realized, which consequences lies could have. "Jenny, we'll talk tomorrow!" she finally said, as she didn't know what else to say. "You have to get up early tomorrow!"

The old woman tried to put much authority into her voice and it was apparently enough. Jenny laid down again with a sad look on her face, which almost broke Mrs. Briefs's heart. She walked slowly to the door, but turned around one more time.

"Jenny, I wanted you to stay. Vegeta would have surely taken you along," she lied again and knew that it would now be easier for the girl to fall asleep. The child and the warrior ware connected by such a strong bond that she wouldn't have forgiven herself, if she had put a wedge between them. "Goodnight and sleep now," Mrs. Briefs only said, before she left the room, switched off the light and quietly closed the door behind her. She slid down at the closed door and lay down on the floor, crying.

She felt guilty. She had yelled at Vegeta before he had left, because had he kept from her that the world might be in danger and now she had done the same to Jenny. Was that fair?

"Please, come back," the woman begged in a whisper and with tears running down her cheeks.

* * *

Cooler's piercing laughter went straight to his head. "Are you finally ready, Vegeta?"

The Super Saiyajin was gathering steadily more energy and had now reached his absolute limit. He had really taken everything that was possible for a Super Saiyajin in the second level at the moment.

Stubbornly he looked up at Ultracooler and his gigantic ki-ball, but didn't say anything. He would answer the Ice-jin in his own way. In the way of a warrior.

He spread his arms to both sides and let his energy flow into his palms until they appeared to burn like small suns.

"This attack is called…" Vegeta started, put the arms together in front of his body and took aim. "FINAL FLASH!" his voice roared. At that moment Ultracooler got his ki-ball on the way, which slowly came closer, but at the same time the destructive force of Vegeta showed itself.

It was an enormous beam of bright energy which sped towards Cooler's ball and met it halfway. A shockwave spread after the Saiyajin had fired his attack, which hit Cooler's fortress and caused it to collapse. Cracks appeared in the ground, in which an incredibly amount of sand disappeared.

…

Juunanagou felt that the wind that hit him, had almost swept him from the hill. It really wasn't easy to fight against these forces. He was holding one hand in front of his eyes to protect them from the sand and the bright light, which seemed to bathe the desert with daylight.

"That's not possible!" he said, but it didn't change anything at what he was seeing. Cooler and Vegeta were fighting against each other with attacks that would leave nothing of Earth than a few specks of dust.

Finally the black-haired Jinzoningen managed to watch but his face was filled with horror. Vegeta's attack was slowing the ki-ball down, but it was still moving incessantly towards Earth. It was pretty much over.

…

"Just try it, Vegeta!" Cooler screeched. „But you stand no chance against my hundredfold Supernova!"

Vegeta gritted his teeth, as he knew that while he managed to hold up the ki-blast, the strength of the energy was slowly lessening.

He had failed. He was inferior to Cooler. Prince Vegeta, a Super Saiyajin on the second level, hadn't been strong enough to compete against Cooler. Slowly his arms began to tremble with exhaustion, while the hundredfold Supernova steadily came closer.

Seconds seemed to become hours, in which Vegeta saw himself in different places and times. He remembered his first fight against Kakarotto, which he lost, even though he had only been fighting against a third class warrior. Also the memories of Namek returned to him. He realized again, how he had thought himself to be the legendary Super Saiyajin and had challenged Frieza. He had failed again and in the end it had again be the third class warrior, who had brought down the tyrant.

Then there had still been his fight against the monster Cell. Vegeta had overestimated his abilities this time as well and had allowed his enemy to reach the perfect form. The Prince had dismally failed in his fights and had to watch, how his son from the future had been killed. Back then, the world hadn't been saved by him, but by the son of his enemy, a half-blood.

And then there were Babidi and Buu. The one who had awoken the slumbering wish for revenge and had tried to use him as a tool, and the other one he had stood no chance against, who had finally killed his family. "Trunks…" the warrior whispered quietly and the trembling in his arms ceased.

"Bulma…" the name of his mate followed and the intensity of the blast returned.

He hadn't been able to protect them and now he wouldn't be able to protect Jenny. She would die because of this fucking ki-ball.

At this moment he felt as if Kakarotto were watching him. Would this third class warrior have been able to save the world from Cooler? Of course he would have.

"No…" he growled quietly and then cried out loudly. Vegeta wouldn't give up. He wouldn't watch again from the sidelines how his family was killed – even if this family only consisted of an old woman and a little girl.

The beam from his hands became more and more intense and eventually the ki-ball stopped.

"What's going on?" Cooler asked himself horrified, as his attack didn't seem to move forward anymore. He extended his arms and put all his strength into the attack, but the hundredfold Supernova didn't move an inch.

To the contrary, it began to move back towards him! Cooler couldn't understand this. What was happening? How was Vegeta able to counter the hundredfold Supernova and send it back? It was so unrealistic, like rain falling upwards.

Ultracooler struggled harder and harder, straightened his arms even more, but the ki-ball kept coming closer. The Ice-jin cried out in panic, as his fingertips touched the huge ki-ball and slowly began to evaporate.

These Saiyajins, could no one handle this plague? Where they some kind of curse for his family?

This seemed more and more probable to Ultracooler, while he was slowly being swallowed by his own attack. He cried again out, as his whole body was riddled with malfunctions. Suddenly the Ice-jin no longer saw himself in the sky, but inside his programmed illusion of his throne room. A cynic cruelty of destiny, to force him to see, what he had desired so much over the past years and would never again see in person, before his death. It was his end, Cooler was aware of that. His kingdom would fall, what he had to accept, but that the planet Earth would once again be allowed to survive he just couldn't accept – but he had no other choice.

He felt the incredible heat inside his ki-ball, which was slowly dissolving the iron shell of his body.

Piece by piece the last organic remains of what was left of his true body were exposed, only to be pulverized into its smallest atoms by the deadly energies.

Nothing would remain of this being, the tyrant and murderer Cooler. Another terrible despot of the galaxy was destroyed forever.

…

Vegeta was watching, as the gigantic ki-ball started on its new course and would probably disappear somewhere in outer space. But even though this danger seemed to be averted, Vegeta still remained ready to fight. But there were no more attacks. Ultracooler had been swallowed by his own Supernova and would never again bring trouble to Earth.

No sooner had Vegeta come to this conclusion than his hair turned black again and his eyes rolled back into his skull, as unconsciousness claimed him. The warrior of the Saiyajin fell like a stone, but was caught by Juunanagou shortly before he hit ground and laid down on a big rock.

"Now we're even," the Jinzoningen said, whose own exhaustion was nothing compared to his immense relief. But it was still strong enough to force him to sit down. He leaned against the rock Vegeta was lying on and closed his eyes, falling into a quiet sleep, during which he was dreaming of his sister and their family, who he would someday meet again on the other side.

The sun was already rising, as Vegeta regained consciousness. His whole body was in pain from the exertions of the fight.

"Juunanagou?" he asked.

"Hmm?" the Jinzoningen mumbled, only slowly waking up from his deep slumber.

"What about Cooler's fortress? No single piece of working Ghetti-technology may stay intact, otherwise we'll soon have trouble with it again."

Juunanagou understood. His eyes wandered to the smashed ruins. Vegeta's energies had caused a lot of damage.

"I'll take care of that. You've taken care of the bad guy, after all." The Jinzoningen tried to smile a bit.

Vegeta didn't say anything, but rose into the air. Without saying another word, he flew away.

…

It took a bit longer, but sometime around mid-morning Vegeta had reached Capsule Corporation, where he was already expected by Mrs. Briefs. The woman was startled, when she saw the Saiyajin bleed from countless wounds and how his gi was torn to shreds in many places.

His nose seemed to be broken.

"What happened?" she asked.

"We fought, I've won," Vegeta growled, while he was staggering through the door. Suddenly the Prince lost his balance and would have fallen, if he hadn't been able to use the wall as support just in time. "Where is she?"

"At school," Mrs. Briefs answered, who knew of course that Vegeta could only be talking about Jenny. "She had felt that something wasn't right, but I told her that it was some kind of special training."

Vegeta snorted but nodded and walked past the human woman. He seemed to force himself to walk on his own power, but it was obvious that he wouldn't allow anyone to help him.

"When she gets home, tell her that we won't be able to train today," were Vegeta's last words before he disappeared around a corner and left Mrs. Briefs behind. She took a deep breath. This Cooler seemed to have been a special case, but it was over now. It was time to go back to their normal life.

* * *

There were several small explosions, while Juunanagou was taking care of some of the bigger debris with ki-blasts. After ten minutes he had decided that it was enough and that there was nothing left of the threat.

He breathed deeply and noticed again this strange tingle in the back of his head.

_"__Start diagnosis of the potential host."_

He had had this feeling for some time now, but had in the beginning only thought that it was some after-effect of the fight. Slowly his gaze fell to the bite he had gotten, when he had hit with his fist through the torso of the Coolerdroid. The small wound had become infected and was burning.

"Weird."

_"__This individual is an improved cybertronic organism of the class H 245. Estimated compatibility is 99%."_

"Shit," Juunanagou cursed, as the tingle became something more. It felt as if a strange pressure built up in his head.

_"__Start installation."_

Then Juunanagou cried out in pain. He felt as if thousands of needles were drilling into his brain. The Jinzoningen could barely manage to stay on his feet and didn't seem to notice that something was moving under his scalp.

_"__Start assimilation of the individual's personal characteristics."_

The eyes of the black-haired fighter glowed red, while he doubled over in pain, but then Juunanagou relaxed again. There was even a relative serene look on his face. A look that was somehow him and at the same time not. Slowly he rose into the sky and flew somewhere. Even he didn't know his destination yet.

_"__Installation of the Ghetti-program finished. Prepare for upgrades and for the following extermination of each potential threat to existence. New name of the individual: Ghetti17."_

The Jinzoningen flew through the sky and smiled evilly, which even put Juunanagou's own smile to shame. He was someone new, someone stronger. A new personality that was still at the beginning of its development. And no matter how much of the being Juunanagou was still left inside of it, it would follow its new programming. Assimilate technology and destroy the Saiyajins, once it was able to do so.

This world was again living in peace, but not forever.

**_THE END_**

* * *

**A/N: So that was "Cooler's Offer". I once again have to thank my reader Infernus for writing this story – I think there's no greater honor for an author than have someone else write a fanfic for one of your story, even or especially, if it's just a fanfic itself. Translating this story into English was also quite an experience for myself, because it somehow seemed to be easier translating an English story into German. Which is kinda weird, seeing as German is my mother tongue. **

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this little story (you can think of it as one of the DB Z movies *g*). I'll try to finish the next "real" chapter of TLW-AR soon, hopefully within the next week. There are just a couple of scenes that I have to write and then it's ready to be posted.**

**See you then and thank you for reading!**

**ChibiChibi**


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